D7 or D28 IAP ROAS campaigns? The answer is both

Scaling mobile games has changed. User acquisition (UA) is no longer about finding players who convert quickly, and it hasn’t been for some time. To drive incremental scale, today’s UA campaigns need to focus on acquiring the right players who generate long-term lifetime value (LTV) or risk their sustainability.

To meet this need, Unity Ads powered by Unity Vector has expanded its optimization capabilities with the D28 IAP ROAS optimizer.

For studios and publishers running UA campaigns on Unity Ads, this adds a new optimization window and expands targeting capabilities. D28 IAP ROAS campaigns help advertisers acquire users with higher retention and stronger long-term value by optimizing for return on ad spend (ROAS) over a 28-day post-install period.

But this new capability raises important strategic questions - do D28 campaigns make D7 campaigns obsolete? Will they cannibalize each other's performance? Which campaign type should you prioritize?

The answer: Prioritize and run both.

TL;DR:

• D7 and D28 IAP ROAS campaigns capture different player cohorts.
• D7 optimization provides rapid campaign validation and early revenue signals.
• D28 optimization captures players with longer monetization curves, who make up over 60% of high-value spenders.
• Unity Vector uses first-party gameplay data to simultaneously optimize both windows without bidding against yourself.

The benefits and costs of D7 and D28 IAP ROAS campaigns

A quick primer. IAP ROAS (in-app purchase return on ad spend) optimizers use machine learning to predict which users are most likely to make purchases in your game. These optimizers dynamically adjust bids to acquire high-value players while aiming to meet your target ROAS. The "D7" or "D28" refers to the optimization window, or how far into the player's journey the model predicts the player will generate revenue.

Each campaign type has its unique strengths and blindspots. D7 and D28 IAP ROAS campaigns aren't competing strategies, but complementary systems designed to capture different player cohorts.

Effective UA can determine which games just survive and which thrive, and both campaign types help games realize revenue potential and sustain long-term viability. The most effective UA strategies treat D7 and D28 as complementary optimization windows rather than a trade-off: D7 provides the velocity to scale quickly by optimizing for early IAP revenue and supplying signals to Unity Vector, while D28 provides greater IAP revenue through longer cohorts. By running both, UA managers are more likely to capture an improved performance throughout the entire value curve

How Unity’s D28 IAP ROAS optimizer prevents D7 cannibalization

The question remains that if both campaign types bid on impressions in the same inventory, won’t they compete against each other and drive up costs?

Unity's analysis of D28 converters reveals that only 38%* of users who convert with in-app purchases by D28 spend in the first week. In other words, roughly two-thirds of high-value D28 spenders showed no early IAP conversion signals whatsoever.

These aren’t players who nearly converted on D7 but needed a few more days. They’re a different player cohort with different motivations, engagement patterns, and conversion triggers.

This is where Unity Vector's support is vital. Traditional optimization models can only see what happens after a user installs: Did they convert? How much did they spend? Unity Vector enables Unity IAP ROAS optimizers to see something more.

Because Unity powers both game creation and user growth, Unity Vector has unique visibility into player behavior and patterns.

Unity Vector combines holistic player and game intelligence to understand why certain players match with certain games, and when they're likely to convert. It uses both attributed data and unattributed data, like cross-game behavioral patterns and aggregate cohort insights, to distinguish between these player types at the moment of bid decision.

The future of ROAS optimization with Unity Vector

When UA efficiency increasingly plays a large role in which games succeed and which fail, leaving only 38% of IAP converters addressed isn't viable. And without the early converters of D7 campaigns, optimizers have less signals and businesses have less to invest in their late-game campaigns.

Both are necessary. And with Unity Vector powering both optimization windows, these Unity Ads campaign types can deliver better results as the model learns from Unity's place at the intersection of game creation and growth.

The architectural decision to optimize for holistic player and game intelligence means Unity Vector's optimization capabilities improve alongside games as they evolve and player behaviors shift - allowing Unity Vector to provide later LTV predictions as the market demands increasingly longer optimization windows. Ultimately, this ensures Unity is able to help creators build games that players love to play, and turn those games into profitable, sustainable businesses.

Ready to expand your optimization strategy? Get started.

*Source: Internal Unity data, D7 IAP/D28 IAP Comparative Analysis, April 2024 - February 2025